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B Signaling Reveals a Novel Role for NF-
B in the Regulation of TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand Expression1
,

,

,
,
*
Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group,
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, and Departments of
Microbiology and Immunology and
Medicine and Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| Abstract |
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B family of transcription factors functions broadly in
the host control of immunoregulatory gene expression, inflammation, and
apoptosis. Using Jurkat T cells engineered to inducibly express a
transdominant repressor of I
B
, we examined the role of NF-
B in
the regulation of cytokine and apoptotic gene expression. In this T
cell model, as well as in primary T lymphocytes, expression of
TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) apoptotic signaling
protein was dramatically down-regulated by inhibition of NF-
B
binding activity. TRAIL acts through membrane death receptors to induce
apoptosis of activated T lymphocytes and can be up-regulated by a
variety of physiological and pharmacological inducers. However,
regulation of TRAIL gene expression has not been defined. Treatment
with TCR mimetics (PMA/ionomycin, PHA, and anti-CD3/CD28 Abs)
resulted in a rapid increase in the expression of TRAIL mRNA and cell
surface TRAIL protein. Induction of the transdominant repressor of
I
B
dramatically down-regulated surface expression of TRAIL,
indicating an essential role for NF-
B in the regulation of TRAIL.
The induced expression of TRAIL was linked to a c-Rel binding
site in the proximal TRAIL promoter at position -256 to -265;
mutation of this site or an adjacent
B site resulted in a complete
loss of the inducibility of the TRAIL promoter. The regulation of TRAIL
expression by NF-
B may represent a general mechanism that
contributes to the control of TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in T
lymphocytes. | Introduction |
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(23%), lymphotoxin-
(23%), and
lymphotoxin-
(22%) (1, 2). To date, several TRAIL
receptors have been identified. Two of these receptors TRAIL-R1/death
receptor 4 and TRAIL-R2/death receptor 5 contain cytoplasmic
death domains and signal apoptosis through a caspase-dependent pathway
(3, 4, 5, 6). Engagement of either of these two receptors by
TRAIL results in the recruitment and activation of caspase-8, as well
as cleavage of BH3-interacting death domain agonist and
cytochrome c release from mitochondria, events that
subsequently lead to the activation of the caspase cascade (7, 8). As yet, it is not clear whether TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 signal
apoptosis through the Fas-associated death domain (FADD) protein.
According to some studies, a dominant mutant of FADD abolishes
TRAIL-mediated apoptosis (9, 10, 11); however, fibroblasts
derived form FADD-deficient mice undergo apoptosis upon overexpression
of TRAIL-R1, suggesting the existence of a FADD-independent signaling
mechanism (12). Binding of TRAIL to TRAIL-R1 or TRAIL-R2
also results in the activation of NF-
B, indicating that TRAIL
receptors can signal both apoptosis and gene transcription; however,
activation of NF-
B alone is not sufficient to block apoptosis
induced by TRAIL receptors (9, 11). More recent studies
suggest that TRAIL-induced activation of NF-
B is mediated by a
TNFR-associated factor 2/NF-
B-inducing kinase (NIK)/I
B kinase
(IKK)
and
-dependent signaling cascade (13).
In contrast with TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2, TRAIL-R3/decoy receptor
(DcR)1 exists as a GPI-anchored surface protein that is unable
to signal cell death, thus acting as a decoy receptor (4, 7, 14, 15, 16). A fourth TRAIL receptor, TRAIL-R4/DcR2 contains only a
partial death domain and does not mediate apoptosis upon binding of
TRAIL; this member retains the ability to activate NF-
B, suggesting
that it may inhibit TRAIL-induced apoptosis by inducing antiapoptotic
genes (17). Transfection of nonsignaling TRAIL-R3 or
TRAIL-R4 results in a down-regulation in the amount of cell death.
Furthermore, TRAIL-R3 mRNA is preferentially found in normal cells but
not in transformed cells, suggesting that these DcRs might be
responsible for the resistance of normal cells to TRAIL-induced
apoptosis (4, 5, 14). These results suggest a complex
regulation of TRAIL-induced apoptosis at the level of expression of the
various TRAIL receptors.
Although TRAIL mRNA is detected in various cells and tissues, including
PBLs, spleen, and thymus (1, 2), regulation of its
expression remains largely unknown. Previous experiments have shown
that type I IFNs, as well as IL-2 and IL-15 stimulation, induced
expression of TRAIL by NK cells (18, 19), and that the
constitutive expression of TRAIL on liver NK cells may be dependent on
the endogenous production of IFN-
(20). In addition, T
cells activated via the TCR or PMA/ionomycin or PHA stimulation display
increased levels of TRAIL mRNA (21, 22, 23). It has also been
reported that peripheral blood T cells stimulated with anti-CD3 Ab
and type I IFNs display an increase in TRAIL expression
(19).
The NF-
B/Rel family of transcription factors plays an essential role
in the regulation of a number of genes involved in pathogen response,
immunomodulation, cell growth regulation, and apoptosis. NF-
B
activity is controlled by the inhibitory I
B proteins, which mask the
nuclear localization sequence in the Rel homology domain of NF-
B,
thereby sequestering NF-
B in a latent state in the cytoplasm
(24, 25, 26). The best characterized I
B protein is
I
B
, which is composed of three domains: an N-terminal
signal-responsive domain, a central ankyrin repeat domain that
interacts with NF-
B, and a C-terminal PEST domain that is
responsible for the basal turnover of the protein
(27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32). Upon stimulation with agents such as TNF-
and
PMA, I
B
is phosphorylated at Ser32 and
Ser36 in the N-terminal signal responsive domain
by the IKK complex (33, 34, 35). Phosphorylated I
B
is
subsequently polyubiquitinated by pI
B
-ubiquitin E3 ligase
(36, 37) and targeted to the 26S proteasome complex,
resulting in the release and nuclear translocation of NF-
B, which
can now stimulate target gene transcription. Mutation of the I
B
serine phosphorylation sites to alanines
(Ser32,36 Ala) generates a form of I
B that is
no longer responsive to inducer-meditated phosphorylation and
degradation and thus acts as a transdominant repressor of the NF-
B
pathway (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43). In this study, we characterized the
expression of TRAIL in Jurkat T cells both at the mRNA and protein
levels. Using Jurkat cells inducibly expressing I
B
Ser32,36 Ala (a transdominant repressor of
I
B
, TD-I
B
) (44, 45), we provide evidence that
the induced expression of TRAIL on T cells is dependent on NF-
B.
| Materials and Methods |
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The reverse tetracycline transactivator protein (rtTA)-Neo and
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat T cells were described previously
(44). Primary T cells were extracted from human whole
blood using the RosetteSep CD3+ cell enrichment
kit (StemCell Technologies, Vancouver, Canada) according to the
manufacturers instructions. The estimated cell purity of the
CD3+ lymphocyte population obtained is 94% or
more. All cells were grown in RPMI 1640 containing 10% FBS, 2
mM glutamine, and 10 µg/ml gentamicin. Cells were stimulated by
TNF-
(20 µg/ml; R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) or PMA (100 ng/ml;
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Costa Mesa, CA) alone or in combination with PHA
(1 µg/ml), Con A (10 µg/ml), or ionomycin (200, 500, or 1000
pmol/ml). CD3/CD28 stimulation of Jurkat T cells was achieved by
treating 106 cells with a mixture of anti-CD3
(10 ng/ml) and anti-CD28 (5 µg/ml) Abs (BD PharMingen, San Diego,
CA) for 48 h. De novo protein synthesis was blocked by treating
cells with cyclohexamide at various concentrations (25, 50, and 100
µg/ml). Primary T lymphocytes were exposed to various NF-
B
inhibitors (Calbiochem, San Diego, CA) as follows: sodium salicylate
(NaSal, 20 mM for 24 and 48 h), Bay 11-7082 (5 µM for 24
h), and MG132 (10 µM for 4 h).
RNase protection assay
Ten micrograms of total RNA extracted using the RNeasy Mini Kit
(Qiagen, Valencia, CA) from unstimulated or stimulated rtTA-Neo or
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat T cells was subjected to RNase protection
assay as specified by the manufacturer using APO3 and hAPO3c probe sets
(BD PharMingen). The resulting protected RNAs were resolved by 5%
denaturing gel and exposed to x-ray film.
Immunoblot analysis
To characterize the kinetics of expression, rtTA-Neo and
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat T cells were cultured in in the presence
of 1 µg/ml doxycycline (Dox; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) for
various amounts of time. Cells were then washed with PBS and lysed in
the presence of 1 µg/ml KCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, 0.5% Nonidet P-40
(NP-40), 0.5 mM PMSF, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, 10 µg/ml pepstatin, and
10 µg/ml aprotinin. Equivalent amounts of whole-cell extract were
subjected to SDS-PAGE in a 10% polyacrylamide gel. After
electrophoresis, the proteins were transferred to Hybond transfer
membrane (Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL) in a buffer contaning 30 mM
Tris, 200 mM glycine, and 20% methanol for 1 h. The membrane was
blocked by incubation in PBS containing 5% dried milk for 1 h and
then incubated overnight at 4°C with N-terminal I
B
mAb MAD 10B
(30) and TRAIL-specific mAb (Immunex, Seattle, WA) in 5%
milk-PBS at dilutions of 1/1000. After four 10-min washes with PBS,
membranes were incubated with a peroxidase-conjugated secondary goat
anti-mouse Ab (Amersham) at a dilution of 1/1000. The reaction was
then visualized with the ECL system as recommended by the manufacturer
(Amersham).
The EMSA
Following the addition of 1 µg/ml Dox to the culture medium
for 24 h, nuclear extracts were prepared from rtTA-Neo and
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat T cells after induction with TNF-
(10
ng/ml) and PMA (50 ng/ml) for 024 h. Cells were washed in buffer A
(10 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 10 mM KCl,
0.5 mM DTT, and 0.5 mM PMSF) and were resuspended in buffer A
containing 0.1% NP-40. Cells were then chilled on ice for 10 min
before centrifugation at 10,000 x g. Pellets were then
resuspended in buffer B (20 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 25% glycerol, 0.42 M
NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM DTT, 0.5
mM PMSF, 5 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml pepstatin, 0.5 mM spermidine,
0.15 mM spermine, and 5 µg/ml aprotinin). Samples were incubated on
ice for 15 min before centrifugation at 10,000 x g.
Nuclear extract supernatants were diluted with buffer C (20 mM HEPES
(pH 7.9), 20% glycerol, 0.2 mM EDTA, 50 mM KCl, 0.5 mM DTT, and 0.5 mM
PMSF). Nuclear extracts were subjected to EMSA with a
32P-labeled probe corresponding to the
B1
region of the I
B
promoter (5'-GATCTTGGAAATTCCCCGA-3')
or the
B1 (5'-AAAGCAAAGAAAATCCCTCCCCT-3') and the
mutant
B1 (5'-AAAGCAAAGTCAAAACCTCCCCT-3')
sites of the TRAIL promoter. The NF-
B binding sites are underlined.
Supershift analysis was performed using the c-Rel, p50, p65, and RelB
Abs (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA). The resulting
protein-DNA complexes were resolved by 5% Tris-glycine gel and exposed
to x-ray film.
Immunoprecipitation
The rtTA-Neo and rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat cells were induced
with TNF-
(10 ng/ml) and PMA (50 ng/ml) for various times in the
presence or absence of Dox and were lysed in TNN buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl
(pH 7.5), 200 mM NaCl, 0.5% NP-40, 2 mM PMSF, 5 µg/ml leupeptin, 5
µg/ml pepstatin, 0.5 mM spermidine, 0.15 mM spermine, and 5 µg/ml
aprotinin). Cell lysates (500 µg) were precleared with preimmune
sera. Precleared lysates were incubated with 10 µl p65 Ab or I
B
Ab and 30 µl protein A-Sepharose beads (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech,
Upssala, Sweden) for 1 h at 4°C. Beads were washed five times
with TNN buffer, and the immunoprecipitates were eluted by boiling the
beads for 5 min in SDS loading dye. Eluted proteins were
electrophoresed on 10% SDS-PAGE and were detected by using
anti-goat p65 Ab (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and MAD10B
I
B
Ab.
Flow cytometric analysis
Unstimulated and stimulated rtTA-Neo and rtTA-I
B
(2N
4)
Jurkat T cells (2 x 106 cells) were washed
in cold 0.5% BSA in PBS and resuspended in PBS containing 10% goat
serum and 0.5% BSA for 15 min. Cells were pelleted and incubated with
1 µg monoclonal anti-TRAIL Ab (Immunex) for 1 h at room
temperature and were then washed with 0.5% BSA in PBS and incubated
for 45 min with FITC-conjugated anti-mouse secondary Ab (1/100;
Sigma-Aldrich). After washing with PBS, cells were subjected to flow
cytometric analysis. Data were collected (5000 events) using a Coulter
EPICS XL-MCL (Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, CA) and analyzed with
CellQuest (BD Biosciences, Mountain View, CA) and WinMDI software
(version 2.8, copyright Joseph Trotter).
Promoter cloning and mutations
The TRAIL promoter region was cloned from human genomic DNA
isolated using the Qiagen DNeasy tissue kit according to
the manufacturers instructions. The full length 1578-bp TRAIL
promoter fragment was PCR cloned using the
5'-GATCCTGTCAGAGTCTGACTGCTGTAAGT-3' sense and
5'-GTAGACTCATTTACAGATAGAAGGCAAGG-5' antisense primers. The -483- and
-1002-bp regions were cloned using the 5'-AGCAAGACCATTGCTATG-3'
and 5'-CTCCAGCCTGGGCGATAAA-3' sense primers together with the
5'-GTAGACTCATTTACAGATAGAAGGCAAGG-3' antisense primer. The
B1
and
B2 mutants of the TRAIL promoter were generated by
overlap PCR. The
B1 sequence was mutated from 5'-AGAAAATCCC-3' to
5'-AGTCAAAACC-3', and the
B2 sequence from 5'-TGGAAGTTTC-3' to
5'-TGTCAGAATC-3'. All constructs were cloned into the
NheI/KpnI site of the basic pGL3 luciferase
vector and into the XbaI/PstI site of the basic
pCAT vector, and the sequences were confirmed by DNA sequencing.
Transient transfection and reporter assays
Jurkat T cells (106 cells/transfection) were cultured at 5 x 105 cells/ml the day before transfection. TRAIL promoter constructs (1 µg) were transfected with 100 ng pRL-tk using the FuGENE 6 transfection reagent (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Indianapolis, IN) as indicated by the manufacturer. After 48 h, luciferase activity was measured using a dual luciferase reporter assay system (Promega, Madison, WI). For chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assays, 107 cells/transfection were transfected by electroporation with 10 µg reporter construct and 1 µg pRL-tk. Following induction, CAT activity was measured. pRL-tk was used to normalize the transfection efficiencies.
| Results |
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B
inhibits NF-
B binding to
B1 site of the
I
B
promoter
To specifically block NF-
B activation, a T cell line that
inducibly expresses TD-I
B
was generated (44, 45).
For this purpose, Jurkat T cells selected for the expression of the
rtTA (46) were stably transfected with a CMVt-Neo
construct expressing the 2N
4 I
B
mutant in which both
Ser32 and Ser36 were
mutated to alanines. Such an I
B protein cannot be phosphorylated and
targeted to degradation, and the NF-
B dimers are kept inactive
within the cytoplasm following the activation of the IKK complex. In
addition, this I
B
mutant also contains a small 22-aa C-terminal
deletion, which was generated to distinguish the mutated I
B
from
the endogenous I
B
protein; this deletion is dispensable with
regard to NF-
B binding and function (44). A control
cell line (rtTA-Neo) containing the empty CMVt-Neo vector was also
generated.
Initially, the effect of TD-I
B
on TNF-
expression and
PMA-induced NF-
B binding activity was studied by EMSA using the
B1 site of the I
B
promoter as a probe (44, 45).
Treatment of rtTA-Neo Jurkat cells with TNF-
or PMA/PHA resulted in
a strong induction of NF-
B binding activity, irrespective of Dox
treatment (Fig. 1
. A and
B, lanes 14 and 69). In contrast,
TNF-
- or PMA/PHA-induced NF-
B binding activity in
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat cells was completely blocked by Dox
induction of TD-I
B
(Fig. 1
, A and B,
lanes 69), whereas NF-
B binding activity was observed
in rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat cells without Dox treatment (Fig. 1
, A and B, lanes 14). To identify the
subunit composition of the NF-
B complexes, supershift analysis of
extracts from rtTA-Neo Jurkat cells treated with TNF-
and PMA for
4 h was performed using anti-p65, -p50, -p52, and -c-Rel Abs.
Complexes were shifted mainly with p65 or p50 Abs but not with p52 or
c-Rel Abs (data not shown). Thus, NF-
B DNA binding activity was
completely blocked by expressing TD-I
B
.
|
B
Coimmunoprecipitation studies were performed with anti-p65
(Fig. 2
, A and B)
and anti-I
B
Abs (Fig. 2
C) to determine whether
TD-I
B
could associate with p65 in vivo during the course of
TNF-
or PMA/PHA induction. In unstimulated rtTA-Neo Jurkat cells,
p65 complexed with I
B
in the presence or absence of Dox (Fig. 2
, A and B, lanes 1 and 5). In
unstimulated rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat cells without Dox
pretreatment, p65 was associated with both endogenous I
B
and
TD-I
B
(Fig. 2
, A and B, lane 10), whereas
in Dox-treated TD-I
B
expressing cells, p65 was mainly associated
with TD-I
B
(Fig. 2
, A and B, lane 14), due
to down-regulation of endogenous I
B
expression (44, 45). TNF-
or PMA/PHA stimulation induced degradation of
I
B
, which reappeared after 60 min in control Jurkat cells (Fig. 2
, A and B, lanes 24 and 68) in
the presence or absence of Dox; for rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat cells
in the absence of Dox, the same loss and reappearance of endogenous
I
B
was observed (Fig. 2
, A and B, lanes
1113). In contrast, in TD-I
B
-expressing Jurkat cells,
immunoprecipitation with anti-p65 Ab resulted in the
coimmunoprecipitation of predominantly I
B
2N
4 (Fig. 2
, A and B, lanes 1417), indicating that the
degradation-resistant TD-I
B
was tightly associated with p65
throughout induction. The reciprocal immunoprecipitation with
anti-I
B
Ab was also performed (Fig. 2
C). Both
endogenous and TD-I
B
were immunoprecipitated from
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4)-expressing cells in the absence of Dox addition,
together with p65 (Fig. 2
C, lanes 25), whereas following
Dox treatment, only TD-I
B
and associated p65 were identified
(Fig. 2
C, lanes 79). Therefore, inhibition of NF-
B
DNA-binding activity in TD-I
B
-inducible cells is due to the tight
association between the NF-
B transactivator p65 and TD-I
B
,
which is resistant to inducer-mediated degradation.
|
B
To identify novel NF-
B-regulated cytokine and apoptosis-related
genes, rtTA-Neo and rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) Jurkat T cells were incubated
in the absence or presence of Dox for different times and were
subsequently treated with TNF-
or PMA for 4 h. RNase protection
assays using RNA extracted from these cells revealed that the amounts
of TRAIL mRNA increased upon treatment with both TNF-
(Fig. 3
A, lanes 37 and
15) and PMA (Fig. 3
A, lanes 812 and
20). As a control for the rtTA-Neo Jurkat cells,
untransfected Jurkat cells were also tested for TRAIL expression; in
both cell lines, TNF-
and PMA stimulated TRAIL mRNA levels (data not
shown). As displayed in Fig. 3
A, the increased expression of
TRAIL mRNA observed upon induction with PMA or TNF-
was almost
completely suppressed by inducing TD-I
B
expression in
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) cells (Fig. 3
A, compare lane
15 with lanes 1619 and lane 20 with
lanes 2124). In both cases, Dox treatment alone did not
affect gene expression patterns (Fig. 3
A, lanes 1, 2, 13,
and 14). As little as 6 h of Dox treatment before
TNF-
or PMA stimulation was sufficient to abrogate TRAIL mRNA
expression. By comparison, Fas, whose expression is known to be
dependent on NF-
B, was also up-regulated upon TNF-
and PMA
stimulation and down-regulated once TD-I
B
was expressed (Fig. 3
A, lanes 1524). A modest inhibition of
receptor-interacting protein was also noted. To correlate the
decrease in TRAIL expression with the increase in TD-I
B
expression, protein extracts from the same cells were subjected to
immunoblot analysis; as shown in Fig. 3
B, increased
expression of TD-I
B
correlated with a decrease in endogenous
I
B
(44) (Fig. 3
B, compare lanes
6 and 7), and Dox treatment before PMA stimulation
correlated with the reduction in TRAIL mRNA (Fig. 3
, A, lanes
2024, and B, lanes 810). These initial observations
suggest a possible role for NF-
B as a regulator of TRAIL in
lymphocytes.
|
Next we sought to correlate TRAIL mRNA expression levels with the
amount of TRAIL protein expressed by stimulated cells. TRAIL protein
expression was detected both in whole-cell extracts by immunoblot
analysis as well as at the level of cell surface expression by flow
cytometric analysis. PMA stimulation of Jurkat T cells resulted in a
significant increase in TRAIL protein (Fig. 4
A, lanes 1 and 3);
immunostaining with monoclonal anti-TRAIL Ab revealed that 52.9%
of the PMA-treated Jurkat cells express TRAIL on their surface (Fig. 4
B2). Hyperstimulation with a combination of either PMA/Con
A, PMA/PHA, or PMA/ionomycin resulted in a striking increase in TRAIL
protein expression with 7580% of the cells expressing surface TRAIL
(Fig. 4
, B, 35, and A, lanes 913).
In contrast with previous results (23), Con A, PHA, and
ionomycin were unable to up-regulate TRAIL protein expression in the
absence of PMA (Fig. 4
A, lanes 48). Although TNF-
stimulation resulted in a 15-fold increase of TRAIL mRNA, a moderate
2-fold increase of TRAIL protein was observed (Fig. 4
, A, lane
2, and B1).
|
|
B
To determine whether PMA- and PMA/Con A-induced stimulation of
TRAIL is mediated by NF-
B, rtTA-Neo and rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) cells
were pretreated with Dox for varying amounts of time (024 h) and were
subsequently stimulated with PMA or PMA/Con A for 8 h. RNA and
protein were then extracted from these cells and subjected to RNase
protection assay and immunoblot analysis, respectively. As expected,
both PMA and PMA/Con A stimulation resulted in a marked increase in
both TRAIL mRNA and protein (Fig. 6
, A and B, lanes 36, 9, and 11). After
induction of TD-I
B
for 24 h, a complete disappearance of
TRAIL mRNA as well as TRAIL protein was observed (Fig. 6
, A
and B, lanes 10 and 12). Moreover, PMA- and
PMA/Con A-induced expression of surface TRAIL was reduced by 5- to
10-fold in rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) cells upon treatment with Dox (Fig. 6
C, compare 2 and 4, 5 and
7). Both PMA- and PMA/Con A-induced expression of surface
TRAIL were weaker in rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) than in rtTA-Neo cells,
which may be due to the leakiness of TD-I
B
expression
(44). Similarly, PMA/ionomycin-induced activation of TRAIL
mRNA and surface protein was also dramatically reduced following
expression of TD-I
B
expression in rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) cells
(data not shown).
|
2- to 3-fold increase in TRAIL mRNA, as opposed
to unstimulated cells. PMA/ionomycin stimulation resulted in a weaker
activation, although we were able to observe a 1.5-fold increase in
TRAIL mRNA expression (Fig. 7
|
B during activation-induced
expression of TRAIL, primary T lymphocytes were stimulated with a
combination of PMA (100 ng/ml) and Con A (10 µg/ml) for 48 h in
the absence or presence of three pharmacological inhibitors of NF-
B:
NaSal and Bay 11-7082, which are known inhibitors of I
B
phosphorylation, and MG132, a potent proteasome inhibitor
(47, 48, 49). PMA/Con A stimulation resulted in an
2-fold
increase in TRAIL mRNA, as compared with resting cells. Addition of
NaSal (20 mM) or Bay 11-7082 (5 µM) at 24 h after PMA/Con A
stimulation resulted in a complete inhibition of the induced TRAIL mRNA
expression (Fig. 7
B in the activation of TRAIL expression in both Jurkat T
cell lines and primary T lymphocytes. TRAIL promoter analysis
Analysis of TRAIL expression at the mRNA and protein levels
provided strong evidence for an NF-
B-dependent mechanism regulating
TRAIL gene expression. Computer sequence analysis revealed the presence
of two potential NF-
B binding sites,
B1 and
B2, in the
proximal 538 bp of the TRAIL promoter region, as well as a more distant
B3 site that spans from -1317 to -1327 (Fig. 8
A). PMA-induced NF-
B
binding was studied by EMSA using all three sites and extracts from
rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) and rtTA-Neo cells. PMA stimulation for 16 h
resulted in a strong induction of NF-
B binding on the
B1 site
(Fig. 8
B, lanes 24 and 7), whereas induced
binding on the
B2 and
B3 sites was not detected (data not shown).
In contrast, treatment of rtTA-I
B
(2N
4) cells with Dox
completely abrogated PMA-induced NF-
B binding (Fig. 8
B,
compare lanes 7 and 8), whereas Dox treatment did
not affect binding in rtTA-Neo cells (Fig. 8
B, compare
lanes 3 and 4). To identify the subunit
composition of the NF-
B complexes, supershift analysis was performed
using anti-p65, anti-p50, anti-c-Rel, and anti-RelB
Abs. Induced complexes were shifted with p50 and c-Rel Abs (Fig. 8
B, lanes 18 and 20), but not by p65 or RelB Abs
(lanes 16 and 21), indicating the presence
of p50 and c-Rel heterodimers in PMA-induced complexes. In addition,
p50 dimers were able to bind the probe in the absence of any
stimulation (Fig. 8
B, lanes 17 and 18). A mutated
B1 site in which the c-Rel consensus site was altered failed to bind
NF-
B following PMA stimulation (Fig. 8
B, lanes 9 and
10).
|
B sites in TRAIL regulation, the
5' 1578-bp region flanking the TRAIL gene (GenBank accession no.
AF178756) was cloned from genomic DNA into CAT and luciferase reporter
plasmids. This fragment contains the transcription start site of the
TRAIL mRNA (50); in addition, two shorter fragments
containing the sequences up to -1002 and -483 bp flanking the TRAIL
gene were also cloned. Preliminary results showed that the -483 TRAIL
promoter fragment was sufficient for PMA-induced transactivation of a
luciferase reporter construct (data not shown). CAT reporter activity
was measured following PMA stimulation in the absence or presence of
TD-I
B
expression. As shown in Fig. 9
3.5 fold induction of reporter gene activity, whereas Dox
treatment of cells resulted in a complete loss of PMA-dependent
up-regulation of reporter activity. It should be noted that Dox
treatment had no effect on the basal levels of promoter activity, and
only the induced activity of the promoter was affected. To eliminate
the possibility that NF-
B may act through an indirect mechanism to
transactivate TRAIL, de novo protein synthesis was blocked using
cycloheximide, and TRAIL levels were measured in uninduced and
PMA-induced cells. Treatment of cells with both cycloheximide and PMA
resulted in an
4-fold increase in TRAIL mRNA and protein levels as
compared with cells treated with cycloheximide alone, indicating that
the observed up-regulation of TRAIL was, at least in part, directly
mediated by NF-
B (data not shown).
|
B sites within the proximal TRAIL
promoter, luciferase constructs containing either a mutated
B1
(-483 TRAIL
B1 mutant) or
B2 (-483 TRAIL
B2 mutant) site or
a combined mutation of both
B1 and
B2 sites (-483 TRAIL
B1/
B2 mutant) were generated. Although PMA stimulated the
wild-type promoter
4-fold, the stimulation remained relatively low,
due in part to the cytotoxic effect of PMA on Jurkat cells. To avoid
this difficulty, cells were activated by overexpressing NIK, a
well-characterized activator of the NF-
B pathway (51).
Cotransfection of a NIK-expressing plasmid in Jurkat T cells resulted
in 5-fold induction of the -483 TRAIL promoter fragment, as compared
with the cells transfected with the empty control plasmid (Fig. 9
B1site. Surprisingly, a
B2-mutated promoter also resulted in a complete loss of NIK-induced
activity, despite the inability to detect any induced NF-
B binding
to this site. Given the close proximity of the
B1 and
B2 sites,
this result may reflect the requirement for cooperative binding to
these two sites, with binding to the
B1 site increasing the
probability of binding to the
B2 site. Significantly, the double
mutant promoter, in which both the
B1 and the
B2 sites were
mutated, showed no increase in activity following NIK
overexpression. | Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
B directly
up-regulates TRAIL, another member of the TNF family of cellular
ligands, which includes FasL and TNF-
. Cell surface expression of
TRAIL was increased in Jurkat T cells following treatment with a
variety of stimuli such as TNF-
, PMA, PMA/Con A, PMA/PHA, or
PMA/ionomycin. In Jurkat T cells stably expressing the TD-I
B
,
both TRAIL mRNA and protein expression were dramatically reduced; in
parallel, we also demonstrated that pharmacological inhibitors of
NF-
B were able to abrogate T cell activation-induced expression of
TRAIL in primary T lymphocytes. NF-
B-dependent expression of TRAIL
was linked to the presence of a c-Rel-p50 NF-
B binding site located
between -256 and -265 within the TRAIL promoter; a second putative
adjacent site was also identified, but this site failed to bind an
inducible NF-
B complex. Interestingly, mutation of these two sites
resulted in a complete loss of inducibility of the TRAIL promoter.
A number of important genes involved in immunoregulation and
cytokine and chemokine gene expression are under the control of
NF-
B. Moreover, NF-
B has been shown to play an important role in
regulating antiapoptotic and proapoptotic events, depending on the
physiological circumstances (55). For example, NF-
B is
actively involved in activation-induced cell death (AICD) of mature T
cells by up-regulating the expression of FasL. Indeed, in the present
studies, activation of NF-
B following TCR engagement resulted in the
increased expression of both TRAIL and FasL (Fig. 7
). Furthermore, the
promoter of human FasL contains
B sites and can be up-regulated by
AICD in T cells (56, 57). Similarly, modulation of
expression of FasL on T cells can influence T cell-mediated apoptosis
of autoreactive B cells (58). Thus, by regulating
apoptosis-inducing ligands, NF-
B may play an important role in
preventing autoimmunity. In addition, activated T cells are also
important effectors of immunological defense against tumors, and one
potential mechanism to eliminate malignant tumors may be to induce
apoptosis via TRAIL, FasL, or other TNF family ligands
(59).
Like other members of the TNF ligand family, TRAIL is able to induce
apoptosis in a variety of cell lines (2). Interestingly,
TRAIL preferentially induces apoptosis in various tumor cell lines but
not in normal cells (60), suggesting that TRAIL may have
therapeutic potential. Members of the TNF family are involved in the
modulation of host defense mechanisms including T cell costimulation,
induction of B cell proliferation, macrophage activation, as well as
elimination of unwanted immune cells by apoptosis (61).
Recent studies revealed that the cytotoxic effect of a variety of
immune cells including CD4+ T cells, NK cells,
macrophages, and dendritic cells is at least partly dependent on TRAIL
expression, suggesting a potential role for TRAIL as a tumor suppressor
(18, 52, 53, 54). It has also been suggested that TRAIL may
play an important role in virus-induced apoptosis; in this regard,
TRAIL may be responsible for the AICD of T cells during HIV infection
(62, 63). Related studies also demonstrate that Reovirus-,
measles virus-, and human CMV-infected cells are rendered cytotoxic via
the TRAIL pathway (64, 65, 66) and indicate that
virus-infected cells express enhanced levels of TRAIL, which is
responsible, at least in part, for virus-induced apoptosis
(62, 63, 64, 65, 66). Given the results of the present study, we
conclude that TRAIL expression may be enhanced as a result of
viral-dependent activation of NF-
B.
The involvement of other transcriptional activators, such as the IFN
regulatory factors (IRFs) and/or NF-AT proteins, would provide an
additional level of complexity in the regulation of TRAIL surface
expression. Sequence analysis of the TRAIL promoter also revealed
several potential NF-AT and AP-1 sites; it is well established that the
NF-AT sites contained within the TNF-
and FasL promoters are
important in up-regulation following T cell activation (56, 67). The increased expression of surface TRAIL in the presence
of a combined action of phorbol ester plus ionomycin stimulation, as
opposed to phorbol ester alone, could argue for a combined
NF-
B-NF-AT action. However, this could also be explained by the fact
that the signaling requirements for c-Rel mimic those of NF-AT. Whereas
p65 can be efficiently induced by phorbol ester alone, optimal
induction of c-Rel requires additional stimulation, such as phorbol
ester and ionomycin (68, 69). Previous experiments have
also revealed that TRAIL can be up-regulated following IFN treatment
(18, 19, 20), suggesting an additional level of regulation
mediated by IRFs. A similar cooperative regulatory mechanism can be
observed in the case of the FasL, which is regulated by NF-
B and
IRF-1/IRF-2 (70). Thus, regulation of TRAIL in T cells may
parallel in many respects that of FasL or other members of the TNF
family and may include a requirement for NF-AT and IRFs following
physiological or pharmacological activation. Nonetheless, the present
study illustrates the absolute requirement for NF-
B in Ag
receptor-induced expression of TRAIL in T lymphocytes.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. John Hiscott, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University, 3755 Cote Ste. Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2. E-mail address: jhisco{at}po-box.mcgill.ca ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: TRAIL, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand; FADD, Fas-associated death domain; IKK, I
B kinase; NIK, NF-
B-inducing kinase; DcR, decoy receptor; TD-I
B
, transdominant repressor of I
B
; NaSal, sodium salicylate; Dox, doxycycline; NP-40, Nonidet P-40; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase; rtTA, reverse tetracycline transactivator protein; FasL, Fas ligand; AICD, activation-induced cell death; IRF, IFN regulatory factor. ![]()
Received for publication April 6, 2001. Accepted for publication July 10, 2001.
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